Project Madad: Help Rural India Fight COVID-19
India is going through an unprecedented public health and humanitarian crisis. 326,000 Indians have already lost their lives from COVID-19. The sheer scale of the tragedy has overwhelmed India’s healthcare system. Over the last month cities like Delhi, Mumbai and others faced the brunt. Now, the virus has moved to more fragile and resource-stressed rural areas. Mass graves are being documented across the countryside; and India's villages need our desperate and urgent help.
Project Madad is a recognition of this reality. A small and dedicated group of 15 eminent Indian and Indian diaspora doctors/ COVID-19 experts and 12 professionals have come together to do whatever it takes to roll back COVID-19 one village at a time, by supporting and strengthening India’s rural healthcare workers. We include doctors and super-specialists in every major discipline that touches COVID-19 from Immunology to Geriatric Medicine to Family Medicine to Paediatrics and Ob/Gyn; as well as diplomats/ UN officials, educationists, a management consultant, a chartered accountant and a certified pharmacist - all working in their personal capacities with no motive except to serve rural India in this hour of crisis.
Our main aim is to curb the increase of COVID-19 cases with Mild symptoms in rural India through interventions by rural healthcare workers, so that these Mild cases do not deteriorate into Moderate and Severe cases, or that virus spreads due to lack of awareness.
Our goal is to:
- Develop capacity and provide advisory support from COVID-19 experts for Village Heads/Sarpanches and rural healthcare workers
- Channel necessary medical supplies and protective equipment for distribution in rural areas
- Create an information campaign in vernacular languages to dispel rumors and promote vaccination & other best practices, with rural healthcare workers serving as nodes for dissemination
- Use technology creatively to help patients in rural areas
- Advice on policy decisions impacting rural areas to state and local authorities.
Our progress in May 2021:
-Engaged 910 rural healthcare workers with COVID-19 experts in rural India (states of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh).
-6 oxygen concentrators, 100 pulse oximeters, 400 N95 masks and 10,000 3-ply masks delivered for distribution.
-Created and distributed 5 sets of guidelines drafted by COVID-19 experts to target covid misinformation in rural areas.
-To enable patients in rural areas to check for nearest available hospital beds in an emergency, Project Madad developed in-house and launched India's first hospital bed mapping tool that updates real-time – MadadMaps.com
-Engaged with the Offices of Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states to recommend vaccination strategies during the crisis.
-Through advocacy with the US House of Representatives, Project Madad secured a FedEx waiver of all costs for any project-related shipments from the United States to Hyderabad.
What we urgently need help with:
The project urgently requires the following medical supplies to give comprehensive assistance to rural healthcare workers in these districts:
- 10,000 pulse oximeters (approx. market price – $150,000 for all)
- 8,000 N-95 5-layer Filter masks (approx. market price – $2,800 for all)
- 400,000 3-PLY Medical masks (approx. market price – $13,000 for all)
- 1,000 Contactless thermometers (approx. market price – $1,700 for all)
- 10,000 Large, high-quality Counter-misinformation posters for villages (approx. $8,300).
We urge you to donate generously and help vulnerable communities in rural India in this hour of crisis.
Regarding the creator of this fundraiser:
I am Rajesh Krishna Anumolu. I am Indian in origin and live in the United States. I felt that the need to help my fellow brothers and sisters in India. I have a medical background having recently finished medical school. Every penny that is donated will be directed towards the effort. Any purchases made through the support provided by GoFundMe or any other sources will be updated in this story.